Meet a Chamber Member: Loren Charlton

Hi Loren, could you tell us a little bit about who you are, and what you do?

Hello, I’m Loren and I work for Barclays Bank. I was born and raised in Brighton - first in Brunswick Square, and then Queens Park, so you can imagine joining a bank was never really on the agenda! But, in 2005 I wanted to go travelling and had to find my first ‘proper job’ to pay for it.

17 years later and after a career break to travel I’m currently working in our Business Development team, with a specialism in wealth and investments. I’m also immensely passionate about financial wellbeing. Having grown up with just my mum, who worked part time at Infinity Foods, money was always extremely tight, which is why I now want to help others wherever possible.

Outside of work I’m married to Zoe and have two little boys Monty and Hugo, who are 3 years and 6 months old.

Can you explain what financial well-being is?

Financial wellbeing is simply having a good relationship with your money without stress or anxiety and having the financial freedom to make choices that allow you to enjoy life.

20 million adults in the UK don’t feel confident in managing their finances, and around 11 million of us have less than £100 in savings. We also have the UK savings gap, which means the current generations just aren’t saving enough for later life.

Both have contributed to there being 4.2 million days of staff sickness in 2019 due to people not being able to work because of financial strain. The latest data isn’t out yet, but with the cost-of-living crisis this is only going to get worse.

You mentioned the cost-of-living crisis, and there’s been a lot in the news about it recently. What do you think the longer-term impact of this will be on business?

It’s difficult to say because there have been a number of factors that have contributed to the situation we’re in now. We’ve had the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, Brexit - among other things - and each of these has had different impacts on our daily lives.

What we can be sure of is that inflation is on the rise, and the Bank of England has forecast that rates will reach 11% by the end of the year. This inflation will have an impact on the cost of goods and services which will either need to be passed on to the consumer, or swallowed by the business itself.

We’ve also seen the Bank of England start to increase interest rates to stem the inflation, and this trend may continue during 2022. This will have a direct impact on any individual or business that has a variable rate mortgage.

Do you have any advice for people who are worried about the rising costs of living?

There is loads of support out there and often the biggest challenge is making that first call and asking for help. Barclays offers a service called Money Mentors which offers free, practical and confidential advice which is available to anyone over the phone or via video.

There are also plenty of charities that can help with debt advice, and I’d encourage anyone who needs support to reach out and take the first steps to financial wellbeing.

And finally, a fun (two part!) question we like to finish on – can you tell us a fun or interesting fact about yourself, and what song is guaranteed to get you dancing?

Fun fact, ok, I’m a very amateur mountaineer and last year climbed the Eiger and the Matterhorn in aid of Chestnut Tree House where I’m an ambassador. Previous to this I’ve summited Mt Blanc, among others, and in November I have a month-long expedition planned in Nepal to climb Ama Dablam, where we’ll establish multiple camps up the mountain for our final summit push.

What song will get me on the dance floor? Probably not a song, more like lots of wine and some encouragement. My wife tells me I’m a terrible dancer so I only bust out my moves when I can be sure nobody else will remember!

Loren Charlton is a Senior Business Development Manager at Barclays Bank. Find out more about by heading over to their website.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk